https://organizingblack.org/home daily 0.75 2026-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1589648013722-LUGXK1N7E423E4OMV9Y0/DSC07943.JPG Home Organizing Black is a grassroots, member-led organization dedicated to fighting for the liberation of all Black people. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591634248426-HBQASZB04HRK5A8SWXSK/IMG_4693.jpeg Home We build local power through transformational Black direct action organizing, political education, and participatory governance practices. https://organizingblack.org/our-demands daily 0.75 2021-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/4429d9fa-d0ea-4f92-8d65-f0e400ffdff9/0002_OB_Demands2.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/288b1267-a947-49c1-9cca-68eb285e46b9/0002_OB_Demands3.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/5074c894-af45-4e51-be72-7e9b4ecdf80a/0002_OB_Demands4.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/f848a1be-7ce4-4258-a968-9c296e8a638a/0002_OB_Demands5.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1621692625422-199NANSKEPJUTTCAT1TF/0002_OB_Demands.jpg Our Demands - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591631739140-2HCC6ZNWBPM4P8LX7OB8/We+Demand.jpg Our Demands - Divest (Defund) from BPD. We demand an immediate divestment from the Baltimore Police Department. We Demand local schools, colleges, universities, and institutions cut ties with BPD, including School Resource Officers, and disband their current police forces. We reject any intervention made by law enforcement officers in the lives of our people. Instead, we call for the introduction of restorative and transformative justice measures to handle conflict. Invest in Black Communities. We demand 50% of BPD’s 2020 operating budget to be invested in Baltimore’s Black Communities. $268,188,238 needs to be invested in infrastructure, healthcare, education, housing, and other social services. Our communities deserve investment. Abolish Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBoR) We demand the immediate abolishment of LEOBoR. This “Bill of Rights” hinders transparency and accountability. Under LEOBoR, officers charged with crimes are protected from public reckoning. We refuse the continued protection of officers that enact egregious violence on our communities. Local Control We demand the City of Baltimore gains control of the Baltimore Police Department. BPD has been a state agency for 159 years since 1861. We reject the “need” for outside actors to determine what public safety looks like for our city. We affirm the skills and values of Baltimore’s residents to handle issues of safety and wellness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591631322961-F97NHE237Q889PPJUIOC/Demand+1.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591631367958-J9QAMTVGWB3C60D1H7K7/Demand+3.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591631340958-FIQCHWDCK46L3DKDX2R7/Demand+2.jpg Our Demands https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591631388855-QZ7ZU8I0ITRZHBNQA3NE/Demand+4.jpg Our Demands https://organizingblack.org/about daily 0.75 2023-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1589842773049-X1J7LLM9C2IFMH867QPX/Michaela+Headshot.jpg About Michaela Brown, Executive Director Michaela “Duchess” Brown is the Executive Director and one of the co-founders of Organizing Black. Michaela has 13 years of experience in grassroots direct action organizing. Duchess began as a volunteer for the Baltimore Algebra Project. She volunteered from 2007 until 2012. Then she was hired as a Co-Director (2012) and Lead Organizer (2013). Later Michaela served on the Baltimore Algebra Project Board of Directors (2014-2016). Before co-founding Organizing Black, she worked at the Baltimore Black Worker Center, where she served as their first coordinator and organizer. Michaela also was apart of Baltimore Bloc and helped lead work from 2014 until 2016, which was during the time they impacted the Baltimore Uprising, Afromation, and the City Hall sit-in. Michaela help co-found Organizing Black because she believes it is imperative to create safe spaces for Black organizers to learn and grow. She took on the challenge of being Executive Director because she understands the importance of Black women leading and what that means for young Black, women organizers coming up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591763727305-5AI3IESEXZ9R4UV5T6RY/Martaze.png About - MarTaze ‘Taz’ Gaines, Senior Organizer MarTaze “Taz” Gaines is a young organizer born and raised in West Baltimore, MD. Their organizing mainly focuses on abolition of the carceral state, creating joyous and healing spaces, and fighting for justice in all realms for Black Queer and Trans folk. Taz is passionate about the importance of “memory work.” Memory work, through the oral tradition of songs, stories, and rituals, allows for the resistance of colonization. They use visual and musical art to carry forth the torch for Black Liberation. Taz earned a B.A in psychology from Morehouse College in 2018 and an M.Ed. in Community Development and Action from Vanderbilt University in 2020. To find more about their personal work, visit their website.www.mtgaines.info Why did I join Organizing Black? In all honesty, this has been a long time coming. I’m excited to move work in a collective of folks that value and affirm my identity and have ideological alignment. More importantly, I’m excited to do this work in the place that molded me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eb435df11335c743feabeb2/1591077909072-7TZ5YN1W6Y4II1QD1QJB/image_6483441.JPG About Ralikh Hayes, Deputy Director As a young person raised in the heart of Baltimore City, Ralikh Hayes started his journey of combating social injustice by becoming a young organizer in 2007 with the Baltimore Algebra Project as an organizer/math tutor ending his time with BAP in 2015 after serving as Co-Director and Board President. In 2015 Organizing Black was co-founded by Michaela Brown, Ralikh Hayes, and Tre Murphy these three visionaries who believe that the path to black liberation and a just, fair, equitable democracy can only exist if we begin the hard work of redefining the systems that give way to oppression and racism. As the nation sat perplexed as we heard of the death of Freddie Gray. Hayes and OB co-founders Brown & Murphy were already in action leading the Baltimore Uprising. Ralikh has a depth of experience ranging from local, state, national, and international grassroot campaigns. 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